Ethnograijhy of Micronesia. ] 29 



existence of earthenware in the East Carohnes cannot be demon- 

 strated to-day, either ethnographicaliy or archaßologically. Moreover, 

 there are many tribes wlio do not know the art of pottery-making. 

 It is unknown to the Polynesians except to a few tribes. Among 

 the Melanosians, the knowledge is limited to some tribes of New 

 Guinea, and to the natives of the Admiralty Islands, New Caledo- 

 nia, No^v Hebrides and Fiji.^ Even among the tribes of the same 

 stock, some are acquainted with the art and some are not. There- 

 fore, it will not be surprising if the art is unknown to the dwel- 

 lers of the East Carolines. Besides, in some cases, the presence 

 of clay has no necessary connection with the knowledge of pottery- 

 making, for, as W. A. Bryan says, " though clay was known to 

 the Hawaiian people they made no use of it and knew nothing 

 whatever of the potter's art.'"'^ 



Among uncivilized peoples, one word often covers many things ; 

 it may be that they possess only one term to express the names 

 of diiferent vessels. It is, therefore, difficult to decide by philolo- 

 gical study alone whether earthen vessels were in use or not. 

 This will be seen from the instance furnished by the tribe in- 

 habithig Kiwai Island at the mouth of the Fly River in British 

 New Guinea, about whom William Macgregor writes : " they pos- 

 sess no knowledge of pottery and have no pots ; they employ as 

 bucket, basin, bowl, and plate a large shpper shell, .... Its name 

 is ' wadere,' and the consequence is that the Kiwai native has no 

 other name j^han ' wadere ' for all our pots and pans and different 



Î H. N. Moseley, "On the Inhabitants of the Admiralty Islands, etc." Jour. Anthr. Inst., 

 VI, 1877, 1). 403. G. A. J. Van der Sande, "Kova Giünea, IH. Ethnog. and Anthr.," p. 10; 

 n. II. C. G. Seligmann, "The Melanesians of British New Guinea," pp. 4o, 114, 732; PL 

 LXXVIII. B. T. SomerTllle, " Ethnological Notes on New Hebrides," Jour. Anthr. Inst., XXIII, 

 1891, p. 378. G. Tiirner, "Samoa," p. 341. W. Y. Turner, " The Ethnology of the Motu," Jour, 

 Anthr. Inst., VII, J878, pp. 489, 490. 



2 W. A. Bryan, " Natural History of Hawaii," p. 59. 



